A Day at the Academy
by Shinigami29
Summary: Chaos Arch. The sun was out, the lesson had started, and the students were ignoring him. Well, most of the students. Through the general chaos of paper airplanes and spit balls, one student in the back seemed to be keeping a keen eye on the chalk board.


Part of the Chaos Arch. Set between 'A Cute Story' and 'Gomenasai - Shikari's Story'.

**_Disclaimer: _**_I don't own anything Naruto._

**A Day at the Academy**

It was a seemingly normal day for Umino Iruka**. **The sun was out, the lesson had started, and the students were ignoring him. Well, most of the students. Through the general chaos of paper airplanes and spit balls, one student in the back seemed to be keeping a keen eye on the chalk board. Normally this would create a small swell of pride inside of Iruka, as he always enjoyed when his children (Yes, _his_ children. He was very possessive of the students in his care.) took such an interest in his classes. But as this was very out of character for the student in question, Iruka couldn't help but be concerned.

He tried to shrug if off as nothing, and instead addressed the class at large. "If I were a ninja-in-training, I would be interested in whatever was going to happen next... who knows, maybe it will turn up in a test?"

At the sound of the magical 'T'-word, everyone quieted down. Holding back a chuckle Iruka moved to turn back to the board, but faltered for a moment. Again he couldn't help but notice how studious that particular child was being, this time scribbling something in a day planner. _Is he making a note to study..? _Curiosity fully peaked, he decided to figure out for certain what was going on.

But being in front of everyone put a difficult twist on a normal 'interrogation'. And he didn't want to wait until lunch hour.

"Hiiro-kun," Iruka called in what he hoped was an absent voice as he finally faced the board to write a complicated question. Most of his students weren't experienced enough in the art of conversations to suspect anything but the teacher noticed a blond boy in the front perk up and look at the student being addressed, his curiosity now perking up as well. _That's Ino's boy. I should make sure he get's onto some sort of intelligence team - he has good instincts._

Silence reverberated throughout the room, broken after a moment by little snickers and stolen glances. Iruka finished writing the first question and turned to look up at Hiiro in the corner, but the boy was still scribbling down one thing or another. _Notes this time? _"Hyuuga Hiiro!" Iruka called out louder this time. The boy in question jumped, his silver eyes looking up from whatever he had been writing.

"H-hai Sensei?" He asked, an unusual amount of nervousness in his voice.

Iruka tried to ignore the hair raising on the back of his neck. _Something isn't right about all of this. _"I won't ask what's so important that you didn't even notice your own name being called," the boy flushed red as he stammered out an apology. _Well... Hinata did stutter a lot as a child. Maybe he just developed it a little late? _He smiled pleasantly at the boy, hoping to put the child at ease before opening his mouth to figure out what, exactly, was going wrong. "Would you mind coming up and answering this question for the class?"

Of course, no one said he had to do it in a straight forward manner.

The blond in the front had to bite down on his fist to stop himself from laughing - unfortunately, it was a mark against the rest of the students' intelligence that they didn't as well. The young blond_, _Jin, knew that it was an advanced question. Normally Iruka would consider putting it on the final test of his graduating class, but he would never put it in front of first year Academy students. Unless he wanted to teach them a lesson in humility, of course.

But Hiiro didn't react in the same panic-stricken way that past victims (_I mean students, _Iruka mentally corrected himself) had. He barely even blinked his moon-pale eyes they scanned over the chalk-script, but he also didn't stand to walk to the front of the class. Iruka was just about to start mentally reassuring himself that everything was in fact 'fine' when the boy spoke up. "It's a trick question."

Iruka tensed, but relaxed quickly. _There's no way he actually knows that, _the teacher told himself. "Surely you can calculate the correct trajectory from the information provided."

"No," the young Hyuuga shook his head slowly. "Normally you could, as you are given a theoretical position for the ninja throwing the kunai, the weight of the kunai, wind speed, and the position of the enemy, but the fight is in a forest."

The teacher could feel chills going up his spine. _No way that a first-year Academy student knows this, especially not sleep-all-day Hyuuga Hiiro. _But somehow, for some unthinkable reason, he did know. And it was causing the class to break out in snickers once again, this time at the teacher's expense. "That is all the information that you need to calculate the answer, Hiiro-kun."

"Can't you get anything right, Hyuuga-brat?" Jin called from his front seat - Iruka held his sigh of relief. _Right. Hiiro will get in a fight with someone, chaos will ensue, and the world will go back to normal. _

"But it is a trick question," Hiiro insisted, not even looking towards Jin. "The question clearly states that they are in the middle of a dense forest, and that the ninja is equiped for short-to-medium ranged attacks. Throwing a kunai suggest a need to create distance to perform mid-to-long ranged attacks."

Iruka could hear erasers drop in the silence that followed.

The now very-confused teacher wasn't able to tear the semi-horror-stricken look off of his face. _Do things like aliens exist..? Did they abduct my precious student? What am I going to tell his parents! _But he was saved from responding by the class door opening.

"Ohayoo," a familiar voice broke the entire class out of their ravine, and they collectively turned to look at the newcomer. In the doorway stood the tall figure of Aburame Shino, his eyes looking around the room behind his sunglasses. "How are you today, Iruka-sensei?"

"F-fine," Iruka mustered up another smile. _No need to put anyone _else on edge right away... "To what do we owe the honour, Shino-kun?"

"I'm here to pick up my daughter," there was an amused-lilt in the man's voice that confused Iruka just as much as the words he spoke.

"You're daughter?" Iruka puzzled aloud, his brows drawing together as he mentally gave up on the entire day. _Maybe I should devote the rest of the class to airplane races? _"Isn't she five?"

"Hai, she is," Shino nodded - Iruka wished he could see behind the man's jacket. He swore he could hear a smirk in the man's response.

"So..." Iruka waited, hoping that his prior student would catch on himself. When he didn't, the older man sighed and let his shoulder's slump in defeat. _Will nothing go right today?_

"She shouldn't start here for another two years," Jin's voice butted into the conversation smugly. While noting that the boy needed to be taught proper manners to his elders, Iruka also thanked his stars that the young blond could figure out what Shino apparently couldn't.

"I know she's too young," Shino agreed. Without explaining himself, the bug-wielder looked to the back of the classroom. "Shikari? Come on, we're going home."

And with that the young Hyuuga in the back of the room started to pack up his belongings, neatly putting books and scrolls and pencils into his bag. Then he stood up and walked to the front of the room, towards his father. Iruka could only gape.

"You even cut your hair?" Shino tsked as the boy drew nearer, causing the Hyuuga to bite his lip with a shy nod. Once he was at the front of the class however, Shino stopped the child with a wave of his hand. "Before we go - apologize to your brother's teacher and classmates and explain what just happened."

"Hai, Otousan," the little boy responded, before turning to Iruka and making a deep bow. "I'm sorry for interrupting your class today, Iruka-sensei." He turned and bowed to the class as he repeated his statement, before he looked back up at Iruka. It was then that the teacher noticed the slim, feminine build under a too-big shirt, and the long lashes framing the silver eyes. "Hiiro-kun is really sick today, so I thought since we look so much alike I'd come to school in his place, so that I could help him keep up with his classes..."

"She thought that missing a day to sleep at home would change my son's normal school routine," Shino added affectionately.

The boy (_girl, _Iruka corrected himself) looked up at her father. "The Academy is the most important part of a young ninja's life! That's what Shibi-jii-sama always tells us!"

"Yes, yes," Shino agreed absently, reaching out and taking the little girl's hand. "And your brother will be back here once his fever dies down. And if you would stop throwing kunai into the lake in the middle of the night, he wouldn't have to get wet getting them out for you, which is why he's sick in the first place." The little girl flushed again, pushing her fore-fingers together in that awkward way Hinata used to do when she was still in the academy. "Now, apologize again before we leave."

"Gomenasai, minna-san!" She bowed lowly once again, before leaving at her father's side.

Iruka just sighed, wishing he could turn back time so that he could've called a substitute to deal with today's mess. But at least the sun was out. Placing his smile back on his face, he look towards the class. "How about we go outside and see who can throw the farthest kunai? Winner gets a bowl of ramen."

_Not exactly airplane races,_ Iruka rationalized as the class cheered and charged the door. _But at least Hiiro will have something to be jealous at the rest of the kids about as 'punishment' for sending his sister._


End file.
